LETTER XIX.
Intelligence from Ethiopia—Remeses a conqueror—Great spoils—He enters Memphis in triumphal array—His filial piety—The captive Ethiopian king—Victorious army of one hundred thousand men in triumphal procession—The Prince of Egypt in his war-chariot—Column of twelve thousand Ethiopian captives—Description of the bands of captives, and their treatment—Invocation of the victors in the great temple of Pthah—Distinction between captives taken in war and the Hebrews—pp. [314]-330.
LETTER XX.
Delightful climate—Indolence and leisure by day—Spirit of life and enjoyment reigns at night—Galley of a noble designedly runs down a small baris—Handsome Hebrew—Another startling resemblance to Prince Remeses!—The lad Israel again—Miriam, the papyrus-copier, the sister of the handsome Hebrew—What he saw, in boyhood, beside the Nile—His infant brother committed to the river—Subterranean chambers for casting images of the gods—The Hebrew gives an account of his people and his God—He mourns the oppression of his race—pp. [331]-346.
LETTER XXI.
Thirty-fifth birthday of Prince Remeses—Queen Amense proposes to abdicate in his favor—The Hebrew page, Israel—Melancholy of the Queen—Prince Mœris—Moving interview between the Queen and Remeses—He declines the throne of Egypt—A secret!—Prince Mœris seeks the ruin of Remeses—A bribe!—Suspicion!—Terrible agitation of the Queen—Attempt of Mœris to poison Amense at a banquet—Another bribe—A mystery!—Remeses consents to accept the sceptre—pp. [347]-363.
LETTER XXII.
Remeses prepares for his coronation by an initiation into the mysteries of the temple—Power and influence of Egyptian priesthood—Daily public duties of the Queen—Her attire—Her bathing and dressing rooms—Skilful adornment of their hair by Egyptian ladies—The Queen acts as chief priestess—Her delightful hospitalities—Beautiful trait of character—Proposed succession of Remeses—Solemn vigil, and other ceremonies of initiation—Remeses shut out from the world in the gloom of the mysterious temple—Israelisis with a message from the Queen—The Celestial Sea—A courier from Mœris—Great distress and singular manner of the Queen—A terrible secret—An impatient follower—pp. [364]-380.
LETTER XXIII.
Revelations—Letter from Mœris—His haughty demand—Is Remeses the son of Pharaoh's Daughter?—Another letter and another haughty demand from Mœris—Still another—A doubt!—An investigation—Amense never a mother!—Her descent to the Nile to bathe—The little ark of basket-work and beautiful child—The princess adopts it—A threat!—The Queen unfolds the terrible secret—Her agony of fear—Her touching story of the discovery of the infant Remeses—She gains resolution and defies Mœris—Remeses a Hebrew!—pp. [381]-397.